March 26, 2010
OREM, Utah - One night after surrendering 23 runs in a loss to Gonzaga, the Utah Valley University baseball team returned the favor and beat the Bulldogs 21-17 Friday night at Brent Brown Ballpark.
The Wolverines (7-9) pounded out a season-high 22 base hits while posting a new season high in runs scored. UVU scored at least one run in each of the first five innings, including eight runs in the first frame to take control of the contest.
Jake Rickenbach, Jace Brinkerhoff and Chris Benson, who ran his hitting streak to 14 straight games, all had four hits in the contest, while Goose Kallunki added three hits and Sage Thorpe and Billy Burgess had two hits each.
The first five hitters in the UVU line-up - Rickenbach, Thorpe, Brinkerhoff, Burgess and Benson - combined to go 16-of-26 with six doubles, one homer and 11 RBIs.
"You've got two teams that can hit and you have a park that plays to hitters," UVU baseball coach Eric Madsen said. "We battle and battled and battled and had add-on innings. Whenever they scored we followed up and scored."
Burgess paced the Wolverines with three RBIs, while Rickenbach, Thorpe, Brinkerhoff and Benson all drove in two runs each. Included in Benson's four hits were two doubles, increasing his season total to 11.
After giving up three runs in the top of the first, the Wolverines exploded for eight runs on five hits and three Gonzaga errors. In the second inning, the Wolverines tacked on four more runs on three hits and two Gonzaga errors. Ten of the first 12 UVU runs were unearned.
The Bulldogs pulled with three runs at 17-14 after six and a half innings but the Wolverines responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame fueled in part by a two-run homer by Rickenbach - his third of the season.
Those runs proved large as the Bulldogs plated three runs in the top of the ninth to trim the lead to 21-17 and had two runners on base before Brian Whatcott closed out the game with one pitch to earn the save.
Craig Brimhall improved to 2-1 in 2.1 innings of relief work, while Whattcott earned his first save of the season.
The two teams will close out the three-game series Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
